Agglomeration Council approves contract for St-Laurent composting plant

Demerged cities upset with compost plan The plan is being criticized for being too expensive

The Agglomeration Council has approved a $175 million contract for a composting plant in St. Laurent over the objections of the demerged cities.

The demerged cities that along with the city of Montreal make up the Agglomeration Council tried to delay the vote so they could get more information about the plan and suggest alternatives, but since the city of Montreal holds a majority of seats on the Council their attempts were fruitless.

The plant will be built on Henri Bourassa Blvd. near Highway 13 and will treat up to 50,000 tons of organic material a year, including domestic waste.

"The size of the plant keeps increasing, and not necessarily at the behest of the city," said Beny Masella, mayor of Montreal West.

He said the leaders of the demerged cities received technical information about the plant an hour before Thursday's vote.

"Such a major contract and it just wasn't in their reflexes to say 'oh listen we have to speak to our partners on the island.' We're going to be footing 20 percent of that bill," said Masella.

The project, which will be overseen by Suez Canada Waste Services, is the largest since the failed $355 million water meter contract given out under the administration of former mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Suez was the only bidder on the project.

Critics question plant’s cost

The project has been in the works for over 10 years, and while its initial budget was $46 million that price has since crept up to $175 million.

The city of Montreal plans to build four more composting facilities for a combined budget of $589 million. Two years ago the price was estimated at $344 million.

In comparison a compost facility recently built in Surrey, B.C. cost just $65 million.

Veteran city councillor Marvin Rotrand says that the city is using a framework from the past.

"Much of this was drawn at the beginning of the second term of Gerald Tremblay around 2005," he said. "Two things have happened since then. The technologies have advanced enormously, and different technologies are being put in place everywhere that seem to offer cheaper alternatives."

Proposition for new bioenergy plant

Critics also wanted to know why the compost plant will only create compost and fertilizer, instead of taking the opportunity to also collect and sell methane, aka natural gas.

Collecting methane may be part of the four other composting facilities that will be proposed by the city of Montreal.